Gosekhurd project’s costs rise to Rs 18,400 crore

The cost of the Gosekhurd irrigation project – given the status of “National Project” – has escalated from the original Rs 372 crore to Rs 18,494.57 crore in the past 35 years. The state cabinet on Tuesday gave its nod to the third revised administrative approval (RAP) for Gosekhurd; the Centre will share 90 per cent of the project cost while the state will share 10 per cent.

Approved on March 31, 1983, at a projected cost of Rs 372 crore; the first RAP to Rs 2,091.13 crore was given on July 3, 1999, the second RAP to Rs 5,690.1 crore on February 25, 2008, and the third RAP to `18,494.57 crore on Tuesday. Asked how BJP had agreed, given that the party had always opposed RAP when in the opposition, Girish Mahajan, minister for water resources, said that if they did not give RAP to barrages in Satara district, they would not be able to see the river full of water up to a few kilometres. He advocated the RAP given to Gosekhurd and said that until now, more than Rs 9,000 crore had been spent on the irrigation project having a total reservoir capacity of 40 TMC.

“The project will irrigate a total 2.5 lakh hectare land and till today, it has irrigated a mere 50,000 hectares of land. We have set a target to complete this project by the end of June 2019 and the water storage will be 20 TMC once the project is completed,” said Mr Mahajan.

Explaining the reason behind escalation of costs, he said, “Out of the total cost escalation of Rs 18,494.57 crore, Rs 3,544.95 crore is due to cost escalation in cement, steel and other items. The previous government had approved bids at higher rates and hence, there was an escalation of Rs 247.79 crore. Land acquisition will need an additional Rs 1,973.79 crore”.

He added that change in project design caused escalation by Rs 1,646.72 crore and another escalation of Rs 3,067 core was due to changes in transportation and other ground work.

“The new package of the state for project-affected families for their rehabilitation will need Rs 1490.58 crore and administration charges including staff salaries will need Rs 864.43 crore. In this way, there will be total escalation of 12835.48 crore plus we have the burden of `5,659.10 crore escalated by the previous government in 2008,” he said.